DJI Air 3S Rumors & Everything We Know

DJI have a very promising future ahead of them: from the imminent arrival of the DJI Neo, and even a potential new mirrorless camera on the way, it’s a good time to be a DJI fan. And with a potentially accelerated DJI Air 3S release date in the latest reports, we could be set to see even more before the year is out. But what can we expect from the DJI Air 3S when it does arrive?

DJI Air 3S Possible Release Date

Our suspicions about an Air 3S release date in the near future have been raised by a recent leak highlighting the packaging for the prospective drone. A post by leaker @JasperEllens on Twitter gave us not only our first look at the 3S, but some tidbits on its production pipeline:

Here we go again. After the NEO we will also see the #DJIAIR3S in what, October? Today we see the #leaked box, also sold with the #RCN3, the same RC the Neo will be sold with. More leaks will follow I am sure. Cheers

Source: Jasper Ellens Twitter

Though Ellens questions whether October is a feasible release date, the fact that we are seeing leaks of packaging highlights that the drone is far down the production pipeline. Given DJI’s generally fast turnaround between announcement and public release, an October release date doesn’t sound too unrealistic to us.

Take that with a grain of salt, however: there are multiple DJI product launches expected in the near future, with the aforementioned Neo just around the corner. DJI had a quiet first half of 2024, but we don’t expect them to fill their entire production pipeline in a matter of weeks.

DJI Air 3S Potential Specs

In terms of what the Air 3S will look like - beyond the image on the packaging - we have less to go on. The design highlights the standard quadcopter style of the DJI Air range, but it is seemingly paired with a new wireless remote control. What sort of features this new style offers are difficult to parse from the packaging alone.

It does appear that the drone camera itself is a little larger, and attached to a more substantial gimbal for improved stability in flight. How this will affect weight - and more importantly, speed - is of course unknown, but we imagine it will be a fair tradeoff.

Given the “3S” moniker rather than this being a “DJI Air 4”, the improvements are likely to be entirely internal for the new drone. We haven’t got a huge wishlist, given that the Air 3 is already an impressive drone, but we’re expecting a potentially more powerful battery and some more intelligent onboard software. An upgraded version of the Active Track feature, which is impressive as a standalone, via new AI-based algorithms could make the Air 3S smarter.